Kindred
There is nothing like the Kindred - nothing so gracefully monstrous, perfectly horrific as they. These creatures, husks of the humans they once were, are now filled with unholy, terrible magic - magic that makes them thirst for blood, makes them the perfect unnatural predator. So romanticized in modern nights, Kindred can feign to be the sensuous, sexual, poised creatures of fiction – but their truth is not one of love, or connection; they are become monsters, Beasts, and no amount of poetic (or trashy) fictionalized portrayal will ever be able to change that. Their truth has become the blessedly cold night, the same cold that seeps into their soul sooner or later no matter how hard they should deny or fight. Pleasures and petty trifles though they may seek, the things, material and immaterial joys of the world of Men, lose their lustre one thing at a time, until all that is left is an emptiness filled only by the search for power. And in this Curse is power unbound - a set of Disciplines held together by the unholy power that lets the vampire become one of the most powerful creatures in the supernatural world. Though the power of the Disciplines may vary by age and action, one thing is for sure: The vampire, even at its weakest, is a formidable foe. Naturally, though, so too are other Kindred – the world’s most apex predator finds itself at odds with others of its kind, and not just in conflicts of the physical variety. In a constant vie for the power in a civilized society, the Kindred engage in the Danse Macabre – centuries of maneuvering carefully their assets and contacts, in the effort to gain whatever footing against their enemies as they might. From this comes the organization of coups of the grandest variety, usurping Princes or slaying Sheriffs, or using the global economy to garner influence and power among Kine to flex their fists on a world stage. To be vampire is to be fear itself. To be undead is to own the night. To be Kindred is to enter the Requiem of Eternal Night. = Biology = Requiem The state of being a vampire is not immortality – immortality implies positivity, and that is not what the Embrace of undeath does for the individual. Rather, it corrupts, destroys their soul, reversing in a way the natural process of death – where the usual corpse will send their soul on to Heaven, or wherever it might be that souls go, and have their body slowly rot away in the ground, the Kindred retain their body for a theoretical eternity, and watch as their soul slowly rots away. The state of being a vampire is a cold eternity of emptiness, referred to often as the Requiem. By rights, the dead deserve a funeral. Humans are put to rest to a great deal of mourning by their friends and family, with ritual and ceremony – lowered into the ground, wished to rest in peace and ascend to whatever awaits them in the afterlife. Kindred do not have a funeral; there is no remembrance for those whose corpses cannot be lain in a coffin and sent into their resting place – because theirs are corpses that move, continue to thrive in a sick and twisted mockery of the way they did as humans. No send-off is made, no last dirge is played for them. A funeral is not held for the dying soul; none lament the eternally Damned. Instead, the Kindred find their existence to be a lament in and of itself; called the Requiem in honor of the mournful songs that epitomize their existence: long and haunting, the Requiem evokes pain and regret, terror and fear. Their dirge plays on for ever, and ever, laying waste to the mortal coil that plagues many and replacing it with the noose of eternal life, that is forever choking the Kindred and threatening to squeeze the life out of them if only they had it. Undeath So what does it mean, when one says ‘undead’? A concise and literal definition is as follows: the reanimation, by any means, of an organism formerly regarded as biologically deceased. Many creatures, such as Kindred and Prometheans, considered undead are animated corpses in the most literal sense – unlike hospital ‘miracles’ that are alive and breathing, these creatures are still technically deceased. They have no real pulse, no need to breathe, and no vital functions in the sense that their bodies once had – they might have requirements, but it is to support whatever unholy force fuels them. For the Kindred, life in undeath is predicated on Vitae – the Blood of the Kindred, what replaces human blood in their veins. In it lies the entirety of their power, the singularity of their state – without it, they are nothing. Vitae, even to the most learned of scholars, is a mystery. That its presence is needed to create a new vampire is known – so is that it does not fill them until after the first time they feed. But the process by which Vitae becomes more potent, more dangerous, is unknown – only that it is a process done in one of two ways: aging, and Diablerie. More on those later. The state of undeath introduces a whole new world of affectations, afflictions, and affluences – and while absolutely everything changes, there is very little that does not stay the same. Kindred hold a convoluted hierarchy, and yet just like humans they all want for power. They have cults, religions, inner demons aplenty – and just like men, the Damned have their secrets. Undeath relieves one of the mortal coil – the ‘human condition’, as it were, that plagues all men – mortality. Kindred are functionally immortal, never aging, never changing. Bodily functions, that which keeps men alive, are useless to them – they do not need to breathe, they do not need to blink; they have no need for cellular respiration, as it is not what keeps them alive, and subsequently have no cellular breakdown – ever. Food and drink sit as dead weight in their stomach, tasting of acid and ash, until it is forcibly purged from their body later – blood and blood alone satiates the vampire, and not the blood of lowly animals - it must be that of humans. True to legend, Kindred have little reflection - their image in a mirror, camera, or video is blurred beyond recognition, unless they should choose to make themselves concrete to it. Their former peers either immediately or eventually, but certainly inevitably, become less of a society to them and more of a herd - so much so that the Kindred colloquialism for humans is kine, a term used by humans for cattle. Their own kind now are other monsters, and this society into which they are reborn is horrifically complex - a dance with creatures their predatorial instincts drive them to hate as rivals, but their sentient nature claws at them to interact with, to maintain some form of connection with something. In time, only other vampires can understand the vampire's psyche, and he can no longer connect with humans - this is the full disconnect, the ultimate separation from who they once were. This eternal state of existence, however, becomes a coil all its own – where the living fear death, the dead dread eternity. Embrace Kindred are, by their very nature, the apex predator anywhere they go - and those who study food chains know that an overpopulation at the apex leads to troubles for all of them, as well as the entire ecosystem. On top of this, as discussed here, Kindred are natural adversaries one to another - despite working together at times, they inevitably turn against their fellows. So why on earth would one want to create another, if it were only going to become a problem for the sire at a later time? This is a result of one of the greatest paradoxes of Kindred existence: They are solitary hunters, and yet they crave companionship - which can only be found in those that understand them as they are, and for all but the youngest of neonates this is found solely in other Kindred. However, with the disagreements many older Kindred find in one another, reaching out does not seem a terribly tempting idea - and so they opt often to simply create a companion of their own, who lacks the centuries of maniacal warping and stepped depravity of their peers. An Embrace, done right, is planned well before even the first contact between future sire (the referential pronoun applied to one Kindred who has embraced and is now charged with the raising, containment, and education of another) and the childe (the neonate that the sire has Embraced, and is in their charge until such time as they are considered ready to be let loose into the world). The sire will, or at least should, have a careful set of three or four specifications that their childe absolutely needs to abide - based usually on either the sire's desires for what they want, or the Clan's general basis for what a Kindred should be. After careful selection of the prospective childe, preparations must be made - Embracing is almost always done in a secluded, private area with no one around to hear it, as even those initially consenting may change their minds and struggle against the sire, even going so far as to scream for help. As such, large estate houses are a prime location - lacking that, basements and soundproofed rooms are also excellent. The next thing taken into account ought to be the First Hunt - a time when the new vampire is ravenous just after their Embrace, and goes into a frenzy to satiate this new and overpowering thirst. To provide for them and keep them from becoming a problem to their sire by attacking him or going after the general public while enraged and therefore unruly, risking the Masquerade, the sire procures a human upon which the neonate may feed - and nearly without exception, this first meal is drained completely of their blood. The process itself is deceptively simple: the childe, readied in the place in which they are to be Embraced, are drained by their sire of all the blood in their body. From there the sire slits her own vein, and allows the Vitae that comes forth from their body to drop through the lips of their childe - this must be done very quickly, lest the childe rise with a half-dead brain or not rise at all. When this blood seeps into their lips, their mouth and throat, it wreaks it unholy magic, reviving her corpse into a state of unlife. This seed, as it were, of Vitae, blossoms out into any and all blood that should come into the new childe's system for the rest of her unlife - and while her own body warps it into a vitae unique and all her own, the sire's taint will always remain. It is from this that clans and bloodlines are borne - no matter how many sire-to-childe exchanges occur, the ultimate progenitor's taint will pass on to any and all of their extended progeny, regardless how diluted it may become. For some Kindred, such as the Abhartach of Ireland, Embracing is about establishing a legacy - and so while childer are Embraced for their quality, several are Embraced at a time. Being a Prince, he cannot raise them all himself - and so the concept of the regent was born. A regent is a Kindred who accepts the role of caretaker to a childe, but is not their blooded sire. Because Kindred are rarely so generous as to care for the childer of anyone but themselves, regents are few and incredibly far between; usually either owing the true sire a massive debt, or for whatever reason unable to sire a childe for himself. Predation The Embrace transforms a person - taking their weak, frail human form and making it into the perfect instrument of terror and death. The Vitae that stagnates in their system, suffuses their entire body and reinforces it to be capable of tremendous and, to the uneducated on such matters, impossible things. Cuspids extend horrifically, out into the proper fangs associated with vampires in all of their media - and are, in fact, used for the very familiar purpose of piercing skin and veins to get at their prey. As such, it is intensely important that the teeth remain sharp - and true to form, the Vitae somehow keeps them focused to a perfect point, ready and able to feast from any. They, above everything else, are the feature that often marks the Kindred as strange to those who look upon them, as they are not as easily hidden as their other facets of their undeath as they cannot be retracted. Lack of life also brings on a number of other changes - the loss of blood flow to the skin makes them incredibly pale, as well as cold to the touch. Because they do not have pumping hearts, they do not need to breathe - a Kindred, could, theoretically, spend their unlifetime at the bottom of the ocean. The only time they would breathe is to speak, or to mimic humanity. Similarly, Kindred eyes do not dry out, and as such they do not need to blink save to blend in among the kine. To complete the illusion of humanity, they can consciously force blood back into their skin to rid it of its ghastly pallor, and return it to a nearly-living flush. Mimicry of humans, however, is not the point of their transformation. The Kindred becomes a hunter of men, and develops a superior form to them - with senses threefold, and even the frailest possessing strength and speed equivalent to the most powerful among men, they are made perfect in the image of a predator. Once, Kindred did not have to be afraid to show their true face to their prey - what someone cowering and scrunched into an alley, alone and afraid, thought of the experience meant nothing. After all, what would their fellows think, when they came spouting tales of fictional creatures that go bump in the night? These were the nights of strength and revelry. In modern nights, discretion has become them - with nearly every human having a device that can record them for all to see (despite being unclear in appearance, a Kindred in attack is very distinctly unnatural) and that can call in help with the flick of their thumb. With the potential for their exposure higher than ever, the Hunt is now a more delicate process than ever. But it cannot be avoided - and none want to avoid it, either. While the Kindred's hunger, left of all outside influence, only afflicts them around every three days, many Kindred feed a great deal more often. The general reasoning behind this is twofold: Kindred desire to be able to use their Disciplines, which are considered to be 'blood magic' as they cause the blood to dissipate from the vampire's system with their use with varying magnitude based on how powerful the effect being achieved is, and for the mere purpose of having something to do every night, something to fill their time. Feeding is by far the most constructive and pleasurable way to do this - in fact, feeding is by far the most pleasurable thing Kindred can do. It instills a euphoria in both predator and victim, beyond that of anything either party could ever experience otherwise - the human orgasm, for example, is pittance in comparison to the Kiss. Between two Kindred, it is most often a replacement for intercourse, as physical intercourse has been reduced to a troublesome and awkward manipulation of blood, and application of lubrication (as there are no natural secretions in the vampire's new form) for nothing more than an average pleasure. As the Kiss induces a haze to the memory of the victim, leaving them permanently unable to recall the event and nearly half an hour preceding, it can also be used to mimic intercourse between a Kindred and a particularly favoured human. When the Kindred is done feeding, they need only lick the spot from which they have fed, and the wound heals. As such, feeding is an operation that tidies itself - leaving the Kindred full, and the victim in a hazed, amnesic bliss, completely unaware and unable to find a trace that anything untoward has happened; they do not remember the primal fear of the Hunter, nor the icy touch of its fangs. Banes There is no being without its weaknesses - even the brutal vampire is no exception. However, real aces against the Kindred are hard to come by; many of those purported in myth, such as garlic and running water, are of no power at all - while off-putting in intensity to those whose nostrils can smell blood from across the room, garlic is powerless, and the Kindred very often shower, so running water is more of an ally than anything. To the nigh-unkillable Kindred, the most Resilient among whom could be impacted by a freight train and not so much as bruise, few things are of much consequence. Of those that are consequential, two are enough to sear their bodies to the point of taking months to recover - sunlight, and fire. Vampires have a deep, primal fear of the sun - they are monsters strictly of night, and moving about during the day takes not only a great act of will but a great deal of preparation to ensure that not so much as a millimetre of skin remains exposed. Should they be touched by it, the skin begins to burn immediately, and as time passes it seeps further into their body, through the skin, into the dead muscle beneath. By the time the burns from the sun begin to burn into the bone, the skin above them turns to ash - and as the bone itself burns, the ash overtakes the muscle above it. Left in the sun long enough, a vampire is nothing more than a pile of ash. Ultra-violet lights have a similar effect to the sun, but theirs is limited to a searing pain without any actual physical impact; left out under them it becomes a throbbing, terrible pain, and then it feels as if their entire person is on fire. As, even at its height, the ultraviolet artificial light causes no actual harm, it is used as a tool of torture by many. Fire has a very similar effect to the sun - save that it turns what is comes into contact with into ash immediately. Unlike the sun, it cannot harm from afar, and does not seep - even within inches, it does nothing but trigger a monumental inner fear. It takes willful application of the fire to the vampire's person to turn them to ash, and is a very precise tool of disintegrating them. Other exploitable weaknesses include stabbing through the vampire's heart - something that paralyses them, but upon removal of the stake they are very much alive; depending on how long they have been in stasis they may be hungry, and will be exceedingly angry - and holy items. Holy items, though, have a very large caveat - they must be used by those people who hold a deep and true religious belief, and intend it to defend or rebuke the Kindred, for religious items to have any effect at all. Haven For the Kindred, the Haven is more vital than anything but blood. It is their personal sanctum, built (or renovated) specifically to suit the needs of the undead. It is where they spend their days in the irrepressible slumber their state brings, and often where they bring their prey if their gambit is seduction. For many, their first Haven is built for them by their sire, or their sanctum is shared until the childe is considered able to see to all of the specifications to build their own. It is worth mentioning early that rarely do Kindred sleep in coffins; most often they adopt lavish beds and bedrooms. A haven must, foremost, be secure against the light of the daytime sun. In the endeavour to block it out, many Kindred have multiple layers of to cover the windows if their haven is above ground - outside shutters, then thick, full blinds, followed by equally thick curtains - as well as the cracks around doors. Skylights are removed from purchased houses, as well as all windows considered unnecessary or unessential to maintaining a look or normalcy. Havens established underground or in basements do not have this problem to such a degree, usually only needing to block the sunlight coming from whatever entrances exist. Likewise, sources of fire - fireplaces, gas stoves, anything of the like - are removed. They are replaced with electric stoves, space heaters, whatever it takes to make the haven seem as presentable as possible in its public places, and comfortable in the private ones. After security against their inanimate enemies, the security against other creatures - be they human thugs, Changeling thieves, Promethean snoopers, or Urathan hunters, even agents of enemy Kindred - is prevalent in the paranoid Kindred's mind. Their Havens are therefore veritable (or, for the old and powerful, even literal) fortresses against their enemies, outfitted with the best security measures their fortunes afford them. Locks on doors are sometimes dozens in number, windows may lock thrice - or perhaps not even open at all. There is no limit to the potential paranoia that haunts their mind, and its application to their reality - especially with regard to their Haven. Vitae Vinculum, Diablerie, Thralls, Ghouls Discipline Disciplines are the practical application of the Overview, no specific detail as it will be its own page Topor 10 years awake - 1 year asleep Clan A clan represents a pedigree - those of a clan are expected only to Embrace those kine that embody the values and characteristics of their clan. This is, however, not always the case - especially with the explosion of the populace in modern nights, there are many Kindred who Embrace those who embody traits they themselves likes, rather than those that embody their clan. Clans are protection, backing - one does rarely challenge one Kindred alone, without the rest of the clan in the vicinity coming down against them. While clan is a biological thing, it is more largely a social construct - and often, that is the context for which it is used. Members of clans are expected to support one another to the greatest degree that Kindred can be expected to do so - that is, not very much - against members of other clans. The heads of the clans, known as the Greater Lords, are creatures of not only incredible personal power and age, but those of extreme political power as well. When the Lord calls, the clan answers. Those who violate the sanctity of clan are Outcast - considered the lowest of the low, below even those slave kine to the least prestigious Kindred - and find no shelter, anywhere, unless they might keep their secret. The Outcast are also called the Marked, as they are often branded across lower the back with an empty circle, to broadcast their shame to all those who might look for it. Rarely are the Outcast forced to bear the Mark anywhere visible, as they still must maintain the Masquerade. Almost all members of a clan uphold one of their clan's Disciplines, as they are able to take to it with particular efficiency, climbing the teirs quicker than they would be able to, and with less effort, than normally. Interestingly, those who take to two of their clan's associated Disciplines find themselves with particular proficiency in only one. Clan Daeva '- These are the most cultured of the Kindred clans; more often than not they are poets, artists, or patricians who support the arts. Many of the earlier generations are from Italy and France, and still maintain very social aspect to their lives, often participating in coteries with the Ventrue and the more civilized members of the other clans. They are often chose because they share an appreciation for the arts or knowledge, and have produced some of the most inspired painters, sculptors, and musicians, as well as some of the greatest thinkers, in the world’s history. ''Preferred Disciplines: Celerity, Majesty, Protean 'Clan Gangrel '- Gangrel are the gypsies of the Kindred world - loners, often chosen to be Embraced because one has grown tired of being alone, but detests the thought of living with a large clan. The Gangrel are barbaric and savage to most other Kindred - they live in the wild, communing with animals, rejecting the common and accepted ways of life. They largely ignore the Danse Macabre in favor of living for themselves and the few others they may be close to. Having shed the confines of society, they tend to come and go from the lands of different Princes as they see fit, and only congregate for massive clan-meetings. Preferred Disciplines: ''Animalism, Protean, Resilience '''Clan Mekhet '- Even among those who only come out at night, some are more hidden than others. These are the Mekhet, the hunters among hunters. Known for being mercenaries, soldiers, and assassins, the Mekhet are structured mostly as a for-hire militaristic society - as such, they have a militant hierarchy. Other members of clan Mekhet are brought in as spies for the leaders of covens, to ensure nothing foul is afoot - though they have been known to betray their Prince to their clan, or the highest bidder. Mekhet are chosen for their wit, wile, and skill as combatants. Preferred Disciplines: ''Auspex, Nightmare, Resilience '''Clan Nosferatu '- These sickening creatures are the only Kindred who typically make their homes in terrible places - sewers, graveyards, abandoned warehouses, the like - as they are, in some form or another, absolutely revolting. Despite their disgusting nature, however, the Nosferatu are among the most hospitable of Kindred - chosen for their negative attributes, they were then made better by their sire in order to be accepted as part of the Kindred general populous. The Nosferatu are also a very closely-knit clan, and as such, news travels among them quickly; to this end, many Princes keep one in their back pocket in order to find out what is happening in their territory and in territories nearby. Preferred Disciplines: ''Nightmare, Obfuscate, Vigor '''Clan Ventrue '- Here are the true nobility among the Kindred, those classic souls who refuse to part with the idealistic times of Lords, Ladies, fiefs, and vassals. They were the Kindred who in mortal lives were Barons, Counts, Dukes, and even Kings - and they loathe parting with that kind of life. They are the socialites, like the Daeva, with culture, class, and time for sophisticated activities the more barbaric clans deem idle. These are the political powerhouses of the Kindred world, as well; leading the vast majority of covens, and lacking that, they fill the role of Senechal. The Ventrue keep a very stiff, Elder-lead hierarchy that tends to shut out the younger generations; as of late, there have been whispers among the young Ventrue of a coup in the making. ''Preferred Disciplines: ''Dominate, Majesty, Resilience = Psychology = Mind Eternal Lack of mental growth/slow onset of insanity/stagnation Empty Heart Lack of emotion. Echoes of emotion past. Attempted bonding through Vinculum. Fetish Kindred obsessions/fixations called “Fetish” = Sociology = Traditions There are laws among Kindred - laws laid down by the Princes in their domain, others by the Clans for their descendants, and still more for those among the Covenants to abide their beliefs. Yet even for all of the laws, differing opinions, and squabbling over values, three laws - so ingrained into Kindred tradition they are known as the Traditions - are enforced the world-over. '''The First Tradition: Masquerade : "Do not reveal your nature to those not of the Blood. Doing so forfeits your right to the Blood." The First Tradition is, by far, the most heavily enforced. Originally codified by the Camarilla of Ancient Rome, Masquerade is a sacred barrier of mystique and mystery - though it is, most often, played out by acting perfectly un-noteworthy. The Second Tradition: Progeny : "Sire another at the peril of both yourself and your progeny. If you sire a childe, the weight is your own to bear." The Third Tradition: Amaranth : "You are forbidden from devouring the heartsblood of another of your kind. If you violate this commandment, the Beast calls to your own Blood." Danse Macabre There are two ways a vampire occupies their time – after all, eternity is not just a lot of time, it is time – and the lesser of these, the Fetish, has been previously discussed. As mentioned, while many Kindred have a Fetish preoccupying their time, it pales in comparison to a much greater facet of unlife: the Danse Macabre. There is no human equivalent to which the Danse may be accurately compared, and any attempt to understand it in its full scale by a human leaves them grasping at straws. It brings the Kindred their greatest achievements, and is perhaps their greatest ruin. The Danse Macabre has a very simple basis – it is the sociopolitical maneuverings of Kindred among either their own kin or simple humans. However, such a simple statement completely understates the massive complexity, the utter scale upon which the Danse is, well, danced. It is very much akin to a game of chess, with tenfold more pieces, a twentyfold larger board, all covered in a dense fog in the pitch black, and played by a hundred opponents over the course of millennia rather than a day. Given this poorly-enlightened understanding, it is little wonder so few childer know which methods, which moves will bring them gain, and are left hobbled to the wills and protections of their sires. It is a considered a ‘game’ by many – but make no mistake, it is much more serious than any game of men, and has led to the death of countless Kindred and humans alike. With its roots firmly planted in the societies of men, holding power there and controlling domains of kine, the Danse is as intricately woven into human society as it is drastically separated. Because the Kindred are tied to cities, tied to humans, it is here that the Kindred must make their moves, take their shadow steps to gain contacts, gain footholds, gain position, gain power. And as time goes on, the Danse only becomes more complex. When it started with the rise of the Roman Republic, the Danse amounted to civilized Kindred amassing small armies of their kin, and larger armies of men, and leading them in battle one against another, claiming territory through raw shows of power, and the more feral Kindred simply going and doing as they pleased, taking what they wanted from whom. Make no mistake, this was still a time of intricate politics – Kindred of the same clan would often make alliances of convenience, only to betray each other as soon as the alliance had lost its usefulness and return to being uneasy acquaintances, weaving more contracts with others, contorting social mechanisms into a great web of lies and deceit for power. Even more convoluted than wars between individuals were wars between clans and covenants, each espousing their superiority and beliefs to all that would listen, and each striking down the others to establish their superiority and solidify whatever ends their particular establishment clawed for. When all is said and done, though, each Kindred acts for herself and herself alone, as it is only she that may be relied upon completely. This is inevitable, as it is the nature of Kindred. The concepts of ceasing expansion, losing independence and settling down during these times were unimaginable. To some in the lesser civilized areas of the world, they still are – and indeed, these concepts, these remnants of times past, still linger in the minds of many even as the minds of new human generations defy them at every turn. It was during the Industrial Revolution, when men rushed to cities by droves, which was beginning of the end for the nights of expansion. The Revolution localized the powers of man – factories, industries, concentrated into the cities – these things became the central powers of the world, not land and territories. Each and every city became a hub of power, and it was to here that the Kindred flocked, and in these small spaces where each contact was leverage, each viable resources was worth tenfold what it had been on the former scales – the old ways of kings and castles, where a noble ruled so many men by right of birth, began to fade, and the middle class rose. This power shift begat the volatilization of the former steady structure, usurping the inflexible elders in their countryside manors, from which their traditions would not let them stray, and began the rise of the younger and/or more ready among their number. This era also saw an explosion in the general population – and, blamed on the indiscretion of some neonates among the new equalist Carthian Movement, the great swell in the numbers of the Kindred. So now more populous than ever and crammed into their gilded cages, the Childer of Blood find themselves ever more entrenched in an evolving struggle played out by unchanging masters, Princes of Domains among humanity. Corteries Groups used for short-term gain; may be Vinculum-bound Domain Prince primogen seneschal herald priscus sheriff hound harpies – concept of domain Elysium More than one, holy of holies Covenants Carthian Movement Circle of the Crone Invictus Lancea Sanctum Ordo Dracul Sabbat Category:Races Category:Playable Races